Six Stockton employee groups agree to salary, benefit cuts

STOCKTON - Six of Stockton's nine employee groups have agreed to salary and benefits concessions that will save the city at least $2.4 million over the next year.

Keith Reid

STOCKTON - Six of Stockton's nine employee groups have agreed to salary and benefits concessions that will save the city at least $2.4 million over the next year.

These deals clear the first hurdle for the city in its efforts to strike financial agreements with a long list of creditors after filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection June 28.

The City Council will consider approval of the memorandums of understanding Tuesday with the Stockton Mid-Management Supervisory Level unit, the Stockton City Employees Association, two units represented by the Operating Engineers Local 3, Stockton Police Management and Unrepresented Management/confidential and law employees groups.

City Manager Bob Deis praised the groups for working hard to achieve agreements.

"They continue to improve the costs of doing business, which is what this is all about," Deis said, thanking the groups for enduring a difficult three years of cuts. "I really appreciate that instead of walking away, they came to the table and worked hard."

Deis said he hoped this would be the end of asking for concessions from the city's employees.

The city has yet to forge any deals with the Stockton Police Officers' Association, its firefighters' union or firefighter managers.

The bulk of Stockton employees have accepted many sweeping reductions in salary and benefits, with some minor adjustments for individual groups.

Some of the main cuts that will affect most employees include:

» A salary freeze. Previously negotiated raises will not be given.

» Stripping retired employees of lifetime medical insurance.

» Changes to the process and a cap on how many days of unused vacation and sick leave can be cashed out.

» Creation of a two-tiered retirement system, reducing city-paid benefits for new hires.

On the positive side for employees, the city did reduce the number of hours employees will be furloughed from as many as 96 hours to 62 hours for the year, which pays back a total of $1.35 million in earned salaries.

The total savings for the city equals at least $2.4 million, and $881,854 in the general fund. City documents did not state cost savings for unrepresented employees or retired employees, so the savings likely are greater.

The agreements will supersede all past union contracts and will stand throughout the bankruptcy process, city officials said.

In its bankruptcy case, the city will continue negotiating new deals with its retired employees and bond holders, who may mount the toughest fight.

Each of the city's labor groups that ratified the agreements have differing views on the process.

Robert Applegate, president of the B&C Labor group that represents Stockton's mid-managers, for example, said the MOU was more or less mandated.

"There was no negotiation. What we got is what was laid out in the Pendency Plan with a few small things we were able to mitigate," Applegate said.

"Every benefit we've had has been changed or vanished. ... Nobody seems to recognize that we've accepted salary concessions voluntarily in each of the last three years, and now we're taking more. We're still viewed (by some) as the greedy city employees. That's not the case."

Stockton Police Management representative Lt. Chuck Flesher, on the other hand, said his group agreed to the concessions and they "were not imposed."

"The PMA has always come to the table and worked with the city in good times and bad," Flesher said. "This is not the first bad-times bargaining we've been engaged in. That's how bargaining works. In the future, we'll see better contracts for the employees and better contracts for the city."

"I'm optimistic we will have at least another one or two in the next few weeks," she said, adding that she's proud to see the city coming to agreements with all of its creditors. "The goal is to get as many as possible through negotiations. I think it's positive."